CP Environmental Science
Name: ______________________________________________________
Hydrosphere Lab- Watersheds and Aquifers
Background- A watershed is an area of land where water drains into an individual stream, lake, or
other body of water. It includes all of the land, soil, rocks, plants, and animals as well as people and
all of those objects that have been built by people. Any precipitation that falls onto the land which is
not used by plants or animals and does not evaporate, travels within the watershed in a specific
manner. There can be many sub-watersheds that comprise one larger watershed, or drainage basin.
Water that stays on the surface of the earth is termed surface water. It collects in various types of
natural wetlands as well as in human-enhanced or human-created bodies of water (reservoirs).
Surface water provides habitat for countless plant and animal species, drinking, irrigation of
agricultural lands, recreation, and industrial and commercial values.
Some of the precipitation that reaches Earth seeps, or infiltrates into the ground. Ground water
moves through soil and through cracks in bedrock. Often times, groundwater becomes trapped
between layers of clay or other impermeable substrate, and is stored underground in rock
formations called aquifers. Fifty percent of New Jersey residents receive their drinking water from
aquifers- wells that tap into these aquifers can either be owned by an individual, a municipality, or a
water utility.
Part 1: Surface Water and Watersheds
Materials: plastic bin, newspaper, plastic wrap, markers, masking tape, spray bottle,
1. Crumple up pieces of newspaper and place them in a their plastic container. The newspaper
pieces represent bedrock. Be sure to create differences in topography (mountains, hills,
valleys, etc.) inside your landscape.
2. Lay a sheet of plastic over the entire model and tuck the edges into the plastic container. Use
masking tape as necessary to secure the plastic onto your landscape.
3. Predict where major rivers or lakes might be and where, on your model, water would collect
after a rainfall. Mark these places with a marker.
4. Make it “rain” on your watershed by spraying your spray bottle repeatedly over your model.
Pay attention to how the water travels across your watershed.
5. Carefully remove your plastic wrap, rearrange the topography (newspaper) of your watershed
to create a new landscape. Repeat steps 2-4. Note the differences between your first and
second model.
Discussion Questions:
1. What natural components are found within a watershed?
2. What man-made components are found within a watershed?
3. Which of the components listed in questions 1 and 2 would be considered impermeable, or
unable to absorb water? Which components would be considered permeable, absorbent?
CP Environmental Science
Name: ______________________________________________________
4. What part of this model makes it only representative of surface water? (Hint- why can’t
groundwater be shown in this model?)
5. You live in the Passaic River Watershed. Study the color print-out of the Passaic River
watershed and answer the following:
a. How many sub-watersheds make up the Passaic River watershed?
b. Which sub-watershed do you live in?
c. At which city does the Passaic River empty into the ocean?
d. What topographic feature creates the borders between watersheds, valleys or ridges?
Before moving on to Part 2- recycle your newspaper and clean up your lab tables.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Part 2- Groundwater and Aquifers
Materials: Tupperware tub, cup, water, green felt, tape, spray bottle, sand, foam paper, pebbles
Set-Up:
1. Unscrew the nozzle of the spray bottle and pull out the nozzle and straw attachment. Remove
the straw from the nozzle.
2. Secure a small piece of fabric to the bottom of the straw with a rubber band to keep sand
from entering the clogging the straw.
3. Tape the straw to the inside of the tub vertically at a corner, with the wide end of the straw
about an 1/8 of an inch above the bottom of the tub. This will be your well.
4. Fill the tub with dry sand until the sand is 1 inch thick in the tub. This is your aquifer.
5. Add water into the tub until the sand is saturated, but without visible standing water.
6. Place the foam paper on the side of your well. It should cover about ½ of the surface. The
foam will represent a confining, or impermeable layer of bedrock above your aquifer.
7. Fill the remainder of your tub with pebbles, leaving a1/2 inch of space at the top. The pebbles
will represent permeable soil layers. Place the green felt on top to represent vegetation.
8. Carefully attach the nozzle back to the straw that is sticking out of the felt. The nozzle is your
pump for groundwater. Your aquifer model is now complete.
Exploration:
1. With a cup ready to catch the spray, pull the nozzle trigger repeatedly and observe what
happens to the water table of your aquifer. You may observe a “cone of depression” form
around the well.
2. Fill a cup halfway with water and “make it rain” on top of your model. Pour slowly at first so
you don’t make a mess. Observe what happens to the water table of your aquifer.
CP Environmental Science
Name: ______________________________________________________
Discussion Questions:
1. Identify the permeable and impermeable components of the model and what they represent.
2. Which ½ of your model (foam-side or non-foam side) would be considered the “recharge zone”
and why?
3. What are the consequences of drought on your aquifer, assuming people are withdrawing
groundwater from their wells at a constant rate?
4. Draw a side-view diagram of your model with the following labels: well, soil, confining layer,
vegetation, aquifer, saturated zone, unsaturated zone, water table.
Clean Up:
- Dump as much excess water into the sink.
- Do NOT pour sand down the drain!
- Try to keep sand and pebbles separate. There are two bins for wet pebbles and sand.